Flames, Treliving agree to part ways
The Calgary Flames and general manager Brad Treliving have agreed to end his tenure, the club announced Monday.
Don Maloney will take over as president of hockey operations and interim GM. The 64-year-old had been the team's senior vice president of hockey operations.
Treliving's contract expires June 30. The Flames hired the 53-year-old in April 2014. He was the assistant GM of the Arizona Coyotes under Maloney, who Treliving later hired to the Flames' front office as a pro scout.
"Today is not a good day for me," Maloney said, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. "Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight and we're not playing. Brad Treliving is a good friend and a very good hockey man. He left us, for his reasons."
"Really, I thought for sure Brad would re-sign," Maloney added, per Postmedia's Wes Gilbertson. "And I'm as close to him as anybody."
Calgary fell two points shy of a playoff berth following an offseason in which the team lost Johnny Gaudreau in free agency and was forced to trade Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers. Treliving was lauded at the time for acquiring prolific winger Jonathan Huberdeau, dependable defenseman Mackenzie Weegar, and prospect Cole Schwindt in that deal.
He also signed high-profile free agent Nazem Kadri to a seven-year, $49-million deal last August. Kadri had just played a key role in helping the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup. Treliving inked goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a six-year, $36-million pact in 2020, the same year he acquired grinder Milan Lucic in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers.
Treliving also signed free-agent forward Blake Coleman to a six-year contract in 2021. But the GM made his most impactful and perhaps most regrettable move at the 2018 draft when he traded blue-liner Dougie Hamilton and the rights to eventual Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox to the Carolina Hurricanes in a package that netted Calgary forward Elias Lindholm and rearguard Noah Hanifin.
However, the executive did draft well on occasion, picking current top-liner Dillon Dube 56th overall in 2016 after nabbing future key contributors Rasmus Andersson and Andrew Mangiapane one year earlier.
But the Flames failed to reach the postseason last week for the second time in three seasons. They didn't advance beyond the second round during Treliving's tenure.
Despite Calgary's roller-coaster summer of 2022, expectations rose heading into 2022-23 after the club won the Pacific Division title by seven points over the second-place Oilers in 2021-22. The Flames beat the Dallas Stars in seven games in the first round last spring, but Edmonton then eliminated Calgary in five contests at the next stage.
Maloney has a wealth of management experience in the NHL. This past campaign was his fifth as senior vice president in the hockey operations department. He was the Coyotes' GM for nine seasons and also spent 10 with the New York Rangers, serving as their assistant GM and vice president of player personnel.
The New York Islanders hired the former forward as assistant GM after he retired as a player with them in 1991. One year later, they promoted him to GM, a position he occupied for three years.